July unrest, KZN unrest, riots in KZN, looting in KZN, KZN 2021 riots, taxi driver arrested, Lungelo Nthenga

A 24-year-old taxi driver has been sentenced to five years behind bars for his role in aiding looters during the July riots in KZN. Photo: @BraaiKing_Bad / Twitter

July unrest: Taxi driver sentenced to five years for transporting looters

A taxi driver pleaded guilty to three counts of theft and admitted to transporting looters in KZN during the July riots.

July unrest, KZN unrest, riots in KZN, looting in KZN, KZN 2021 riots, taxi driver arrested, Lungelo Nthenga

A 24-year-old taxi driver has been sentenced to five years behind bars for his role in aiding looters during the July riots in KZN. Photo: @BraaiKing_Bad / Twitter

A 24-year-old taxi driver has been sentenced to five years behind bars. The Durban Regional Court convicted Lungelo Nthenga after he pleaded guilty to three counts of theft regarding the July unrest.

Nthenga admitted to transporting looters in July 2021

Nthenga was allegedly involved in the July unrest in KwaZulu-Natal. The 24-year-old reportedly used his minibus taxi to transport looters during the unprecedented 2021 unrest in the province.

His conviction relates to incidents in the Mobeni Industrial area. During his plea, Nthenga admitted to the court that he was a taxi driver during the 2021 July unrest in KZN. He explained that he used his taxi to transport people to a site in the Mobeni business industrial area for them to loot.

He was arrested at a roadblock and found with looted items

In a bid to clamp down on looters, authorities started a roadblock in which they stopped and searched vehicles. Nthenga was arrested when the vehicle he was driving was stopped at one of these roadblocks.

TimesLIVE reports that the taxi driver’s vehicle had been packed with items from warehouses in the area that had been looted as well as rice and tinned fish. 

Prosecutor presented stats at the Durban Regional Court

Regional prosecutor Kuveshni Pillay shared statistics during the court proceedings.

The statistics are from the SA Property Owners Association and suggested that KZN lost a massive R50 billion during the July unrest. Pillay further told the Durban Regional Court that the looting and unrest caused a loss in tourism and foreign investment.

July unrest: ‘We did the best we could,’ Ayanda Dlodlo tells hearings

In related news, it was previously reported that Minister Ayanda Dlodlo has admitted that the security cluster could have better responded to the violence which unfolded during the July unrest.

Dlodlo was giving evidence at the SA Human Rights Commission’s national investigative hearing into the week-long riots which led to the deaths of more than 330 people. The chaos, which made international headlines, started out as semi-violent demonstrations demanding former president Jacob Zuma’s release from prison in KwaZulu-Natal.

But they soon morphed into riots which saw shopping malls and other establishments being targeted. The unrest soon spread to parts of Gauteng after which the violence escalated. Read the full story here.